Chapter Twenty-Eight

Rage rolled from Blake in never-ending waves. That feigned innocence he kept seeing in her eyes couldn’t conceal the lies she was now telling him. He would get to the truth, and he would get to it tonight. If she seriously thought he was giving up, she had a lot left to learn about the real world.

Blake knew better than to touch her right now, though. He was angry enough that he was afraid of physically hurting her. That was ridiculous, of course — he would never hit her, never lose control. He was made of ice. How many people had said that about him?

He’d lost count.

Only his brothers were allowed in, and only because of the horror the three of them shared. It was them against the world. So why was he letting this woman, this insignificant woman, affect his moods?

As he pointed his truck away from the city, he watched her stealthily. Absurdly enough, he wanted to reach across the seat and haul her to his side. Her tantalizing scent was surrounding him, muddying his thoughts completely. In such a short time she had changed him in ways he didn’t understand.

What he should do was take her back right away, drop her at the doors of Relinquish Control, just as he’d said he would, and never look back. He knew that wasn’t going to happen just yet though. He needed to drive, needed to think before he dropped her off. Make her talk to him.

When he started down a road with no streetlights just as the sun left the sky, she turned toward him. Her face was barely visible in the insignificant light from the dash, but he had no doubt she was worried. Good. Let her worry. She had caused him an unbearable rush of emotion today. She could deal with fear.

About ten miles out in the middle of nowhere, she finally spoke, her voice quavering. “This isn’t the way back to Relinquish. Where are we going?”

“You’ll find out.” His tone was still harsh, his feelings still barely under control. No. He couldn’t touch her yet, but soon… Yes, he’d soon be touching her a whole hell of a lot.

“Blake—”

She broke off, and he had no idea what she was going to say, because just then he heard a loud thumping noise followed by the sound of his tire shredding.

“Dammit!” Blake yanked his foot off the gas and eased the truck over to the side of the road. They were miles from anywhere, in the middle of mint fields, the aroma everywhere.

His first instinct was to call his assistant, get someone out there to fix the truck so he could take her where he’d planned. Then, as he lifted his phone and was about to press the buttons, he had second thoughts.

Yes, rage still filled him, but desire was even stronger. “Come here, Jewell.”

The dash lights were their only illumination, but he easily saw the shiver that raced through her body at his words. He had no doubt she would follow his orders.

That was what gave her the advantage. He was waiting for her to climb over to him, and instead, she threw open the passenger side door and bolted from the truck. He sat there dumbfounded for a minute, then jumped from the vehicle. Both of the truck doors were now wide open, and the light glowing from the truck offered him some slight assistance in his chase, and yet her shadow was barely visible as she sprinted away.

“Get back here,” he thundered, then silently rebuked himself. The tone of his voice wasn’t going to reassure her, persuade her to stop, and if she didn’t, he knew he’d lose her in the dark.

Throwing off his custom suit jacket, not caring where it landed, he ran after her. As it turned out, she didn’t stand a chance. She hadn’t made it very far when he caught up to her and lifted her into his arms. Her scream floated away into the night.

“Stop now!” he told her as he turned and began making his way back to the truck with her struggling in his arms.

“Don’t do this, Blake. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you where I was. I wasn’t doing anything that would dishonor you, I swear.”

“I don’t care. You will tell me, but we’ll revisit that later,” he said in a steady voice as they reached the truck.

“What are you going to do?”

He sat her on the hood of the truck, spread her legs, and moved up against her, aligning his face perfectly with hers.

“Whatever I want.” With that, he grasped her neck and pulled her close, sealing their mouths together and only beginning to scratch the surface of his hunger where this woman was concerned.

She struggled for several moments, until he gentled his hold, his anger draining and seduction taking its place. Only then did she melt against him, a whimper escaping her throat as he broke through the barrier of her lips and plundered her mouth, making sure she thought of no other man but him.

Wrapping his arms around her as he dominated her in the best way he knew how, he pushed away the thoughts of who was really in control here. He was transported to a place where his problems evaporated, where the endless void of his life paradoxically disappeared. Nothing mattered when he was in her arms, when his lips were on hers, when his body sank inside her. Nothing mattered but her.

Only passion, heat, and lust were real in this moment. Only Jewell was real.

When he broke the kiss, he couldn’t see her face — the light from the truck was behind her. He could only hear her deep, panting breaths as he reached for the hem of her shirt and began tugging on it. He needed to feel her skin, needed to taste every single inch of her body.

He slid his fingers over her taut stomach, and its muscles shook underneath his touch, making him feel stronger, invincible, even. Her gasp of pleasure when his fingers glided over her full breasts and peaked nipples sent a shock wave through him.

Still, she wore too many clothes! He carefully pushed her backward, laying her flat on the hood of his truck, and he put his hands under the waistband of her jeans and undid them, then dragged them and the thin piece of silk covering her womanhood down off her trembling legs.

He smoothed his hands up her thighs and past her stomach, and cupped her sweet breasts, making her groan with need. Her response to him made him ache unbearably.

His manhood pulsed, and he was ready to strip off his clothes and take her right then, to plunge within her heat, to feel the walls of her core pulse around him. But he wouldn’t rush this. No.

His brow beaded with sweat. He drew back long enough only to rip his shirt buttons open and fling the offending garment on the ground.

The cloud cover cleared and the light from the full moon gave him a perfect view of her ivory flesh against his dark truck, and the sight of her nearly made him fall to his knees in appreciation. When she looked up, took in his chest and let out a little gasp, he didn’t know how he remained on his feet.

“I want you now. I want you always. I can’t get enough of you,” he said as he undid his pants and pushed them down, leaving him bare before her.

The frustration in her greedy eyes fueled his desire even further, and he came up to her again and ran his hands along the inside of her spread thighs. But when goose bumps appeared on her flesh, he stopped.

“Are you cold?” The air was warm and he was burning up, but maybe making love out in the open wasn’t the best idea.

“No,” she whispered with a shake of her head, her voice barely audible.

“Are you scared?” He held his breath and waited.

“Not at all,” she said. It wasn’t fear that was causing her to shake all over.

Her answer filled him with pride. He’d been happy to see her frightened earlier — he’d been furious — but when it came down to it, he didn’t want her afraid of him; he wanted her to desire him, need him, not want to let him go.

Even though that was against the rules.

Blake was beginning to hate the rules set between them, hate how this had all started. In only a week, she had taken hold of something inside him, though he wasn’t sure what and wasn’t about to analyze it. No. This was about sex, and only sex.

“I won’t hurt you, Jewell. No matter how angry I am, I would never hurt you.” He needed her to know this, and needed her to tell him she believed that. She was silent and he waited, his hands resting just beneath her heat as he throbbed before her.

“Please, Blake. I need you,” she told him.

“No, Jewell. Tell me you know I won’t hurt you,” he demanded. He slid his hands up her body, stopping them just below the rise and fall of her breasts before moving back down to her core, circling her most sensitive area.

“Blake…”

He said nothing, but rubbed his arousal against her leg, letting her know that he was more than ready for her.

“I know you won’t hurt me,” she finally gasped in frustration. “Please, please touch me.”

He didn’t need to hear anything beyond that. He moved one hand lower, pressing his fingers inside of her while the other trailed up her body and moved over the mound of her breast and up over her nipple, making her arch her back and groan once more into the night.

Lowering his head, he pulled her closer to him, then took her peaked nipple in his mouth and sucked, flicking his tongue over the ridge as she moved beneath him.

“More, please, more,” she begged, reaching out tugging on his hair, holding him tightly against her.

“Here?” he teased as he lifted his mouth, moved across her perfect mounds and flicked his tongue over her other nipple, wetting it with his hot mouth.

“Yes!” she cried out, grasping at him, clutching him, telling him with her movements that she wanted his skin against hers, his body sunk deep inside.

He wasn’t ready to do that yet. He’d go wild and wouldn’t be able to give her the pleasure she deserved, so he drew back from her grasp and trailed his mouth down the tight curve of her stomach. Urged on by her trembling, he skimmed his mouth across her heat.

At the first swipe of his tongue, her body jumped from the truck. Tucking his hands beneath her luscious backside, he held her in place as he spread her core and licked along her sweet walls.

Pressing his mouth against her pulsing core, he sucked the tender flesh of her engorged bud, and he gloried in her cries of release that engulfed him. He still couldn’t get enough of her.

“I need to take you, Jewell — now. I want to make you mine over and over again,” he said, though he didn’t think too deeply about those words. He drew her to him, catching her body in his arms as he lined them up together, his throbbing manhood begging for entrance.

Before thrusting inside her, he captured her bottom lip tenderly and sucked it into his mouth, absorbing the gasp she let out, all the while caressing her back with his hands. Now he pressed closer, and the head of his arousal slipped inside her swollen heat.

He found her pulse beating strongly in the scented skin of her neck, mint drifting all around them, suddenly becoming his favorite herb ever, and then he licked her flesh, knowing he would never get enough of her taste, enough of her body, enough of any of this.

She moved against him, her body twisting to get closer as the flames of desire quickly built back up within her. She wanted him to feel her, and he wasn’t going to deny her any longer.

His thick length rested intimately just inside her, but he pulled back to look into her eyes before he pushed forward in a slow, sure thrust that had him coming unglued.

When she sank her teeth into the side of his neck, he nearly spilled his seed right then. “Hold on,” he gasped, trying to regain control over his body. That seemed to encourage her to push him to his very limits.

Bringing her head upward, he closed his mouth over hers, his kiss hungry, desperate, full of want and need and emotion he couldn’t identify.

He didn’t try to hold back any longer, but plunged in and out of the safety of her body, propelling them both higher and higher, their groans filling the night skies, their passion seemingly infinite.

He fought for self-control, fought to slow down, but it was no use. Her legs circled his back, and he drove deeper, faster, harder, until he heard her cry out, felt her body tense around him and convulse in explosive ecstasy.

Pleasure then rushed through him, and he cried out too, his body pulsing within hers, his pleasure complete as he pumped deep inside her tight sheath. The shudders of both their bodies didn’t soon die down.

When their breathing finally approached normal, she lifted her head, showing him eyes bright and cheeks still rosy from her release. “I guess that was a nice ending to our week.” Her voice was slightly shy, though she was trying to say the words almost like a joke.

He wasn’t in the mood for laugher.

“I guess you’re right,” he said, and, withdrawing from her body, felt instantly empty.

He helped her from the truck and she stood there naked and trembling before him.

“What are you going to do now, Blake?”

“Since you refuse to tell me the truth, our time is over.”

He turned and picked up his pants, slipping them on before going to get the spare tire from the back of the truck. She dressed in silence and climbed inside the cab. He had no idea what she was feeling because she was quickly learning to make her face a mask.

What he didn’t understand was the tightening in his chest. As he got into the truck and made his way back to the city, he felt his pulse beating strongly. When they reached the back doors of Relinquish Control, he stepped from the truck, his face cold and unforgiving as he rang the buzzer.

McKenzie stepped out, her surprise obvious from her face. “Blake, you’re early,” she exclaimed. Then she immediately composed herself.

“Ms. Weston hasn’t worked out,” he said, no emotion coming through in his tone.

“What do you mean? Your time is up in the morning,” she told him.

“She didn’t follow the rules. I’m finished with her.”

McKenzie said nothing else as she held open the door for Jewell to step through, and when it clicked shut behind them, Blake found himself wanting to bust right through. But with iron control, he instead moved to his truck and stepped up into the driver’s seat.

And drove away…